Selbourne ‘Live’ from Aurora’s 2024 Grand Tour

[lincslady]

59 minutes ago, brian1 said:

He sounds a bit crackers to me.

He sounds not only a bit crackers, but also now trying to be extra good to ensure a personal tip at the end of the cruise, maybe?

[Eddie99]

Does P&O no longer offer the separate vegetarian menu?  Seems like that kept everyone happy?

 

Thanks again Selbourne.  How’s the throat?

[zap99]

12 hours ago, Selbourne said:

Todays MDR menus

 

We're the vegans happy with the dinner menu ?. Probably not. They never are.🤣

[terrierjohn]

3 hours ago, P&O SUE said:

On the gravlax of salmon debate - I tried it on Ventura last year as I wondered what it was like (but didn’t want to risk paying for it on land!) I didn’t like it 😆

I have had gravalax, on P&O I think, from memory it is very similar to smoked salmon,  but not quite as tasty.

[jh1809]

10 hours ago, Selbourne said:

I was initially pleased to see that we have chicken fajitas tonight, until our assistant waiter told me that the tortillas that come with them are vegan ones. I had those earlier in the cruise and they were absolutely disgusting. Inedible in fact. 
 

I don’t mind repetition and on a cruise of this length you expect it, but things can repeat 2 consecutive days, or just be a very slight variation. Happens a lot with mains and desserts. Smacks of ‘we didn’t use it all up yesterday so we’ll try again today’. 
 

Then you have the added issue that whilst the menus might sound very tempting, what you end up with a lot of the time is a big anti climax and doesn’t live up to the glamorous descriptions. We are still sticking with our assessment that only 20% of MDR meals are ‘good’, 20% are ‘poor’ and 60% are mediocre. I appreciate that it’s mass catering, but if you were served up a lot of these meals in a restaurant at home you wouldn’t be putting the place on your favourites list. It’s a shame as we know that it can be done so much better - including on P&O. As stated, we found the MDR food to be far superior on all the other P&O ships we went on last year (Britannia, Iona and Ventura). 

The difference suggests that a lot might depend on who the head chef is, since presumably all P&O ships have the same basic ingredients available and - one would assume - kitchen staff of comparable skill. Though having now seen the post that P&O have said that they are trying out a new menu on Aurora (but have had lots of complaints), perhaps that's the reason. Hopefully the trial will have been binned before I'm on Aurora in May.

Edited February 20 by jh1809

[happy v]

6 minutes ago, jh1809 said:

The difference suggests that a lot might depend on who the head chef is, since presumably all P&O ships have the same basic ingredients available and - one would assume kitchen staff - of comparable skill.

I would agree. A lot of people ask who the captain is for their cruise. I always used to see who was the head chef. They don't publish that now.

[Presto2]

4 minutes ago, happy v said:

I would agree. A lot of people ask who the captain is for their cruise. I always used to see who was the head chef. They don't publish that now.

We had the name of the head chef on our menus in the evening. 

[pete14]

I am not trying to defend P&O because food should be better than many have experienced both in quality and choice. However, galley space on Aurora is likely to be small and there can only be a limited amount of different dishes that they can physically produce. This is not helped by the need to cover not just vegetarian / pescatarian / vegan dishes but also special diets such as gluten free, low fat, low sugar etc. These need separate, dedicated preparation areas which cut back on space for the ‘ordinary’ menu choices. Maybe the larger ships with larger galleys can manage this more easily and effectively.

[FatBoy20]

48 minutes ago, pete14 said:

I am not trying to defend P&O because food should be better than many have experienced both in quality and choice. However, galley space on Aurora is likely to be small and there can only be a limited amount of different dishes that they can physically produce. This is not helped by the need to cover not just vegetarian / pescatarian / vegan dishes but also special diets such as gluten free, low fat, low sugar etc. These need separate, dedicated preparation areas which cut back on space for the ‘ordinary’ menu choices. Maybe the larger ships with larger galleys can manage this more easily and effectively.

The MDR Menus used are the same for all Ships.

[pete14]

6 minutes ago, FatBoy20 said:

The MDR Menus used are the same for all Ships.

I agree but more galley space to work with may improve the quality if not necessarily the choice. On our recent Aurora cruise, not all meals were as described, especially in the vegetable department where they seemed to serve the same vegetables regardless of the meal choice and how it was described. On the few occasions when green beans were on the menu, we had a pretty standard chunk of carrot and a sprig of broccoli instead, together with partially cooked potatoes. 

[jeanlyon]

That menu would leave me cold.  Just a starter I think 😞

[david63]

The problem with menus on P&O ships is, I believe, that they are "set in stone" by the Operations Department long before the ship sets sail. This is borne out when for operational reasons a formal night is moved to another night but not the menu. At one time when there used to cruise directors that co-ordinated everything onboard then the menus would change also.

[terrierjohn]

1 hour ago, pete14 said:

I am not trying to defend P&O because food should be better than many have experienced both in quality and choice. However, galley space on Aurora is likely to be small and there can only be a limited amount of different dishes that they can physically produce. This is not helped by the need to cover not just vegetarian / pescatarian / vegan dishes but also special diets such as gluten free, low fat, low sugar etc. These need separate, dedicated preparation areas which cut back on space for the ‘ordinary’ menu choices. Maybe the larger ships with larger galleys can manage this more easily and effectively.

The galley is the same size as it was on launch, and lots of posters have commented on the reduced choice and quality currently, when compared with 5, 10 or 15 years ago.

[Adawn47]

1 hour ago, pete14 said:

I am not trying to defend P&O because food should be better than many have experienced both in quality and choice. However, galley space on Aurora is likely to be small and there can only be a limited amount of different dishes that they can physically produce. This is not helped by the need to cover not just vegetarian / pescatarian / vegan dishes but also special diets such as gluten free, low fat, low sugar etc. These need separate, dedicated preparation areas which cut back on space for the ‘ordinary’ menu choices. Maybe the larger ships with larger galleys can manage this more easily and effectively.

Smaller galley space I agree Pete, but less passengers, so less meals to prepare surely?

We last cruised in 2019 and never encountered any of the cutbacks and problems with food that I'm reading about now. It seems to me to stem from the restart of cruising. I may be wrong but imo it is a cost cutting move.

Avril

[Selbourne]

Just now, Adawn47 said:

Smaller galley space I agree Pete, but less passengers, so less meals to prepare surely?

We last cruised in 2019 and never encountered any of the cutbacks and problems with food that I'm reading about now. It seems to me to stem from the restart of cruising. I may be wrong but imo it is a cost cutting move.

Avril

I wondered the same Avril. I’m sure that they’ve always worked to a budget for food and that budget may well be the same, or even more than pre Covid but, as we all know, food costs have rocketed so you get a lot less for your money these days. 
 

The thing that I’m struggling with though is that having read about all the post Covid cutbacks, we were apprehensive about our cruises last year, yet found the MDR food to, in the main, be very good on Britannia, Iona and Ventura. Aurora hasn’t been as good for some reason.
 

The choice doesn’t worry me too much - I can usually find something I’m happy with - but sauces and gravies lack flavour, food doesn’t seem to be seasoned and stated components are often missed or so small that they might as well not be there (I do wonder whether the fact that we are second sitting is a factor in this). We get the odd very good meal but most are forgettable. I wouldn’t have thought that the Executive Chef made that much difference, but it’s someone I’ve never heard of before so I do wonder. 

[Selbourne]

Cozumel Cancelled

 

The captain has just announced that, due to high winds, we are unable to berth in Cozumel today and the visit is cancelled. No replacement port so a

sea day. Its blue sky and flat calm seas, but why do I know!

 

I was booked on a tour this morning that left very early, so I didn’t have a good nights sleep (never do if I have to be up early), got up at 6.15am and dragged my wife out of bed soon after. Worst of all, in addition to the sun cream I am covered in that vile smelling Jungle Formula spray, so now need to go and have another shower to try to lessen the stench 😂

 

On the positive side, as well as a refund for the excursion that’s another £300 missed port insurance claim, now making £600 with Key West. 

 

 

[happy v]

2 hours ago, Presto2 said:

We had the name of the head chef on our menus in the evening. 

I was meaning before you booked In the mag (name??) with the list of captains it also used to give you head chef. If ever I was trying to choose between cruises I would choose the one with the best chef. A problem you may have now you can travel on any date!😉

[pete14]

1 hour ago, terrierjohn said:

The galley is the same size as it was on launch, and lots of posters have commented on the reduced choice and quality currently, when compared with 5, 10 or 15 years ago.

Of course, but maybe there are greater demands caused by different requirements either through health, personal ethical choices and convictions than once there were, that means space has had to be reapportioned.
I don’t doubt there is some cost cutting though. Portion sizes appear to be smaller which is actually not a bad thing in my opinion. 

[Presto2]

7 hours ago, P&O SUE said:

On the gravlax of salmon debate - I tried it on Ventura last year as I wondered what it was like (but didn’t want to risk paying for it on land!) I didn’t like it 😆

I'm going to own up here - have never heard of gravlax and never seen it on a menu anywhere.

To us it sounds more like an alien from Dr Who ........ 

Edited February 20 by Presto2

[Presto2]

1 hour ago, happy v said:

I was meaning before you booked In the mag (name??) with the list of captains it also used to give you head chef. If ever I was trying to choose between cruises I would choose the one with the best chef. A problem you may have now you can travel on any date!😉

Apologies, I can't remember them doing that. Was it in the magazine then like they tell you who the captain's are?

[terrierjohn]

15 minutes ago, Presto2 said:

Apologies, I can't remember them doing that. Was it in the magazine then like they tell you who the captain's are?

On Princess, pre pandemic, there was always a sheet in the welcome on board Princess Patter, that listed all the senior officers on board with a brief potted history alongside their photo's (or maybe that was Celebrity???).

P&O also used to have a photo display of the senior staff on the wall of one of the public decks, mind you that was often out of date, I always thought this was useful.

[Bill Y]

1 hour ago, Selbourne said:

Cozumel Cancelled

 

The captain has just announced that, due to high winds, we are unable to berth in Cozumel today and the visit is cancelled. No replacement port so a

sea day. Its blue sky and flat calm seas, but why do I know!

 

I was booked on a tour this morning that left very early, so I didn’t have a good nights sleep (never do if I have to be up early), got up at 6.15am and dragged my wife out of bed soon after. Worst of all, in addition to the sun cream I am covered in that vile smelling Jungle Formula spray, so now need to go and have another shower to try to lessen the stench 😂

 

On the positive side, as well as a refund for the excursion that’s another £300 missed port insurance claim, now making £600 with Key West. 

 

 

Interesting. I noticed earlier that Aurora was in pole position for docking then she turned around about 2000’ away. But since then Mariner of the seas, Carnival Celebration, Norwegian Breakaway and MSC Devina have successfully docked with Carnival Breeze approaching. I realise that the captain’s decision is final and safety is paramount but why such a hurry to abort and slowly sail away? I can’t help but think what his form master would have put on his report.

[Presto2]

24 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

On Princess, pre pandemic, there was always a sheet in the welcome on board Princess Patter, that listed all the senior officers on board with a brief potted history alongside their photo's (or maybe that was Celebrity???).

P&O also used to have a photo display of the senior staff on the wall of one of the public decks, mind you that was often out of date, I always thought this was useful.

Yes I remember that - I think it was on Celebrity on the news sheet they gave out (can't remember its name at all now). I can't remember seeing the photographs, though staff were introduced on the Captain 's welcome event.

[Selbourne]

Just now, Bill Y said:

Interesting. I noticed earlier that Aurora was in pole position for docking then she turned around about 2000’ away. But since then Mariner of the seas, Carnival Celebration, Norwegian Breakaway and MSC Devina have successfully docked with Carnival Breeze approaching. I realise that the captain’s decision is final and safety is paramount but why such a hurry to abort and slowly sail away? I can’t help but think what his form master would have put on his report.

Can’t say that I’m surprised to hear that all other ships got in OK, yet it’s supposed to be the bigger ships that struggle more in wind as their high sides act as sails 🤔. The irony was that it’s a sunny day with calm seas and no winds of any significance that I could detect from my foray outdoors. 
 

We obviously have no choice but to accept that the Captain makes the right decision based on safety, but I sometimes wonder whether the same decision would be made if there was a financial consequence for P&O for missed ports. I appreciate that they probably still have to pay the port fees and also have to refund excursions, but the additional on board spend with everyone being stuck on the ship for the day probably means that they don’t lose out - and may even gain.
 

It's never sat easy with me that passengers have to rely purely on whether or not they have missed port cover to get any compensation for missed ports and cruise companies have no liability. Land based companies would struggle to get away with failing to provide an advertised service and saying ‘nothing to do with us - contact your insurers’. 

[Presto2]

Apologies if you've told us, but am wondering if you have a new Captain - I remember that you weren't too impressed with the one you had when you boarded.